![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Roots Music Rec's Request
So apparently there is a ton of interest in American Roots Music - so yay! I've drafted help on the essay front from two very intelligent and musical sources, so this might actually make sense. This is my goal for May/June.
Before that - I do want to do an actual *music* post of Americana, kinda like Lum did with the blues posts, just so there is a starting point. I mean, I can bring up King Wilkie or North Mississippi Allstars or Uncle Tupelo or Professor Longhair or Alison Moore or Steve Earle (and believe me, I *will*) but music is a strange beast in that we can talk all day long about what makes *this* Americana and how this is actually folk music but since it was so heavily influenced by such and such artist that it sounds kinda country and how this is classic country but if you listen carefully, you can definitely hear a blues influence and this is classic blues by way of southern rock and this is not any of the above, but something totally different, but is important because it helped shape all of the above.
And it can all be called Americana because it all arises from roots music.
But none of this means anything if we are just talking about it - we gotta listen to it as well (so we have something to talk about). So now I need your help - if you are reading this and are into roots music -- please post a couple of essential rec's in the comments cause, as you know, this is an extremely large playing field.
And my definition of roots music is extremely wide - so if you think it fits, go ahead and suggest it and tell me why (if you can, you don't have to).
Also - you can just give the name of the artist and album/song - uploading mp3s is not a requirement to play.
Before that - I do want to do an actual *music* post of Americana, kinda like Lum did with the blues posts, just so there is a starting point. I mean, I can bring up King Wilkie or North Mississippi Allstars or Uncle Tupelo or Professor Longhair or Alison Moore or Steve Earle (and believe me, I *will*) but music is a strange beast in that we can talk all day long about what makes *this* Americana and how this is actually folk music but since it was so heavily influenced by such and such artist that it sounds kinda country and how this is classic country but if you listen carefully, you can definitely hear a blues influence and this is classic blues by way of southern rock and this is not any of the above, but something totally different, but is important because it helped shape all of the above.
And it can all be called Americana because it all arises from roots music.
But none of this means anything if we are just talking about it - we gotta listen to it as well (so we have something to talk about). So now I need your help - if you are reading this and are into roots music -- please post a couple of essential rec's in the comments cause, as you know, this is an extremely large playing field.
And my definition of roots music is extremely wide - so if you think it fits, go ahead and suggest it and tell me why (if you can, you don't have to).
Also - you can just give the name of the artist and album/song - uploading mp3s is not a requirement to play.
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
Jimmy Driftwood - the Battle of New Orleans
Woody Guthrie - So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya
Harry McClintock - Big Rock Candy Mountain; Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
Win Stracke, Big Bill Broonzy - I Come For to Sing
This is just shit off the top of my head - lemme do some thinking.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
Various live session mp3s here (http://www.16horsepower.com/contents.html#soundfiles).
I didn't add my voice to the previous post yet, but yeah - I really look forward to your essay. I own about 90% of the blues Lum posted, but Americana? Not so much. Explanations and mp3s would be very cool. :-)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
If you are using Americana as an umbrella term then all the songs on those comps fit.
Then there are people like Gram Parsons, Alejandro Escovedo, etc. Americana is such a beautiful genre because it exists only as a blend of other genres. A little of this, a little of that, a helping of twang.
Found this via friendsfriends surfing and I'm friending you because I want to follow this Americana project.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
(no subject)
no subject
No idea if it'd be any help, but, there you go.
(no subject)
no subject
But you want recommendations, I got 'em. I can't point you to MP3s because I don't download music because of above. But as for bands & CDs:
Del McCoury Band -- does a really fine bluegrass take on the blues (fave CD: A Deeper Shade of Blue).
Lynn Morris Band -- one of the few BG/Old Time/Country bands led by a woman. Fave album: Mama's Hand.
Hazel Dickens -- Classic old time. A good sampler is A Few Old Memories. (She wrote "Mama's Hand," above).
Rosie Flores -- punk turned rockabilly/Roots rock. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it -- WANDA JACKSON! Yay, Wanda! She did some songs with Flores.
Iris DeMent -- some people call her folk, though some folkies run screaming from her twang.
Kevin Welch -- Americana/country. I like his first album best, but "Pushing Up Daises" from a later CD I can't remember now is a great song. My all-time favorite song of his, though, is "True Love Never Dies."
Joe Ely -- Americana/roots rock. I always liked his first album best, and could listen to the trio of songs "Tennessee's Not the State I'm In," "If You Were a Bluebird," and "Treat Me Like a Saturday Night" over and over forever. Along with Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Butch Hancock, he was a member of early "alt-country" band the Flatlanders. Gilmore is weirder, and Hancock is more folk (and weirder still!) but it's all good.
Townes Van Zandt. Anything and everything.
Steve Earle, of course.
Johnny Cash!
Johnny Cash!
Johnny Cash!
I don't actually have to *hear* Johnny Cash songs anymore. They're engraved on my DNA. 8-) And anyway, he's the quintessential crossover guy. It didn't always *work*, but he took some wild musical risks.
I think if anyone is interested in hearing the difference in how Rockabilly can lean more towards R&B on one hand or country on the other, it's instructive to listen to songs by Ronnie Dawson and Dave & Deke Combo, respectively. Just a thought.
Oh, and the Bad Livers are a must-have. They blended punk and old-time sensibilities in a really compelling way. Their funniest song is "Shit Creek," though I think they regretted recording it, because it's more of an obvious novelty song, and everybody always mentions it, the way I'm doing now.
Speaking of novelty, here's a fun oddity: The Vultures (http://www.highlandpublishing.com/Highland_Records_%C4/Albums%20%C4/Highland_Records_205.html). It's an album of mostly old rock instrumentals (Pipeline, Apache, Walk, Don't Run, Wipe Out) done with acoustic instruments. A dobro can really get that weird "wet" sound on "Pipeline," and the drum solo from "Wipe Out" is played on somebody's face. *g* (The "Vultures" include David Grisman, Roy Ickes, Norton Buffalo…)
Er… I could go on…. just don't get me started! *g*
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
Don't forget the 3 volumes of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"
For broad survey of sacred music see the recent "Goodbye, Babylon"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
That's all I can think of that hasn't already been mentioned.
no subject
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002OR2/qid=1114131287/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-2460493-9008753?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
"Rhythm, Country and Blues"
And, had you seen this fine engine?
http://www.musicplasma.com/
Try mapping "Gram Parsons" for a good example. The interface isn't real intuitive, but the help file does help some...
Article on the engine at:
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3379161
And, try kartoo.com -- search on "american roots music"
-- mouse over the diagram to see the linkages -- click on "next map"
Have fun [g]
(no subject)
Look what boingboing just found for us!
BLUES/FOLK/OLDTIMEY music and sounds: American Memory Audio, American Music, Cantaria, Honey Where You Been?, Honking Duck, The Ragtime Ephemeralist, Tinfoil and Uncommon Folk.
http://tofuhut.blogspot.com/2005/05/even-when-you-dont-find-music-here-you.html
Re: Look what boingboing just found for us!
Re: Look what boingboing just found for us!